The Quick Answer
HP OfficeJet 4650 scanner not working on Mac? A repair tech explains why printing can work while scanning fails, and the missing driver piece.
Printing works fine. Scanning does nothing — no error, no image, sometimes not even an attempt, just silence from a scanner that used to work. This split symptom on the HP OfficeJet 4650 has a specific explanation that most general troubleshooting guides skip entirely, because they treat "the printer" as one thing when your Mac actually sees it as two separate functions running on two separate pieces of software.
Quick-Fix Summary
Fast version:
- Confirm the printer works for printing — this narrows the problem significantly.
- Try scanning through Apple's own Image Capture app as a diagnostic step.
- Reinstall the full driver package, not just a basic print driver.
- Check macOS's Printers & Scanners list for the scanner specifically, not just the printer.
- Understand the separate scanner driver component — my uncommon tip, and the real explanation for this exact pattern.
Fix 1: Confirm Printing Still Works
Try printing a simple test page first, before assuming the entire printer connection is broken.
Why this matters: if printing works but scanning doesn't, you've already learned something important — the printer's basic network or USB connection to your Mac is fine, which means the problem is specifically isolated to the scanning function rather than the connection as a whole. This completely changes where you should be looking next.
Fix 2: Try Scanning Through Apple's Image Capture
Open Image Capture, a built-in Mac application (search for it with Spotlight if you don't see it in Applications), and check whether your OfficeJet 4650 appears in the device list on the left side of the window. If it does, try scanning directly through this app rather than through HP's own software.
Why this works: Image Capture uses macOS's own built-in scanning framework rather than depending on HP's software at all, so this test tells you clearly whether the printer's actual scanning hardware and its basic communication with your Mac are functioning, separate from any issue that might be specific to HP's own driver or app software.
Fix 3: Reinstall the Full Driver Package
Go to HP's official support site, search for the OfficeJet 4650, and download the Full Feature Software and Driver package for your specific macOS version — not a basic or print-only driver option if one is separately offered.
Why this works: basic driver packages sometimes include only print functionality, deliberately excluding scanning components to keep the download smaller and simpler for people who only need to print. If scanning was never fully installed in the first place, or a "basic" reinstall replaced a more complete previous installation, the scanning function will appear broken even though nothing actually failed — it just was never there to begin with in this particular install.
Fix 4: Check Printers & Scanners for the Scanner Entry Specifically
Open System Settings → Printers & Scanners and look closely at your printer's entry. Some HP all-in-ones show up as a single combined entry, while others show separate print and scan components, or require the scanner to be added as its own device alongside the printer. Confirm there's a genuine scanner component listed and associated with your device, not just the printer function alone.
Why this works: depending on how the driver installed and how macOS is currently representing the device, the scanning function needs its own recognized presence in this list to be usable by any application, HP's own software included. If it's missing here, no amount of troubleshooting within HP's app will fix something that macOS itself doesn't currently see as available.
Fix 5: Understand the Separate Scanner Driver Component (My Uncommon Tip)
Here's the explanation that clarifies this entire category of problem, and it's the piece almost no general troubleshooting article walks through clearly.
On many multifunction HP printers, including the OfficeJet 4650, printing and scanning are handled by genuinely separate driver components on a Mac — a standard print driver for sending documents to the printer, and a distinct scanner driver, often built around Apple's own ICA (Image Capture Architecture) framework, specifically for pulling images back from the device's scanner hardware. These two components can be installed, updated, or broken independently of each other, even though they both live under the same printer's name in your Applications folder and System Settings.
This explains the exact symptom pattern you're likely experiencing: a macOS update, a partial driver reinstall, or simply an older installation that predates a later macOS version can leave the print component fully functional while the scanner component becomes orphaned, outdated, or disconnected from what the current macOS version expects — without any error message specifically telling you that scanning, and only scanning, is the broken half.
To address this directly: after reinstalling the Full Feature package (Fix 3), specifically verify in Image Capture (Fix 2) that the scanner shows as an available device — this confirms the scanner component specifically, not just the print component, installed and registered correctly this time. If Image Capture still doesn't see it after a full reinstall, remove the printer entirely from Printers & Scanners, restart your Mac, and add it back fresh, watching during setup for scanning to be explicitly listed as one of the detected features rather than assuming it installed silently in the background.
Why this works: once you understand these are genuinely separate components under one shared name, "printing works, scanning doesn't" stops looking like a contradiction and starts looking like exactly what it is — one half of a two-part driver system that didn't survive whatever changed recently, while the other half did. This reframing is what turns a confusing, seemingly inconsistent problem into a specific, addressable one.
When to Call a Professional
If Image Capture never shows the scanner as an available device even after a complete driver reinstall and re-adding the printer fresh, and printing continues to work normally throughout, the scanner hardware itself inside the OfficeJet 4650 may have a genuine fault, or this specific printer-and-macOS-version combination may have reached the end of active driver support from HP for full scanning compatibility. Contact HP support with your printer's serial number and current macOS version to confirm current support status — older multifunction printers do eventually reach a point where scanning support on the newest Mac operating systems isn't actively maintained, even while basic printing continues working through Apple's more universally supported AirPrint standard.
FAQ
Why does my HP OfficeJet 4650 print fine but won't scan on my Mac?
Printing and scanning are handled by separate driver components on macOS — a standard print driver and a distinct scanner driver often built around Apple's Image Capture framework. One can break or go missing while the other keeps working normally.
How do I test if the scanning hardware itself is working?
Open Apple's built-in Image Capture app and check whether your printer appears as an available scanning device there. This bypasses HP's own software and tests the connection more directly.
Do I need special software beyond the basic driver to scan?
Yes — make sure you download and install the "Full Feature Software and Driver" package from HP's support site rather than a basic print-only driver, which may not include full scanning components at all.
Could this be a macOS version compatibility issue rather than something I can fix?
Possibly, especially on an older printer like the 4650. If a complete reinstall and fresh setup still doesn't restore scanning while printing keeps working, it's worth checking directly with HP support whether your current macOS version is still fully supported for scanning on this specific model.
HP OfficeJet 4650 scanner not working on Mac while printing works fine comes down to one key fact: these are separate driver components under one shared name, and one of them didn't survive whatever changed recently on your system. Reinstall the full package, confirm the scanner shows up specifically in Image Capture, and you'll usually restore the half that went missing.
Additional Resources
If you are still experiencing issues after trying the steps above, you may need to consult the official documentation or download the latest firmware for your specific printer model. We recommend checking the following official resources: